Does Detracking Work? Evidence from a Mathematics Curricular ...
Does Detracking Work? Evidence from a Mathematics Curricular ...
Does Detracking Work? Evidence from a Mathematics Curricular ...
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<strong>Detracking</strong> 24look at the extent of classroom-level tracking that is generally unavailable elsewhere in theliterature, since few studies have access to census data and classroom indicators. We find onlymodest change in the extent of gender, ethnic, or language-based segregation in the district’s 8 thgrade mathematics classrooms. However, this table indicates that the district underwent someskills-based desegregation after it implemented its 8 th grade curricular intensification policy. In2004-2005, 68 percent of students who scored in the bottom half on the state’s 7 th grademathematics test would have had to move to another classroom to establish an even distributionof high- and low-skill students in the district. In 2007-2008, by contrast, 52 percent of suchstudents would have had to move to a new classroom. We find similar evidence of skills-baseddesegregation when we consider the extent to which students that scored in bottom quartile onCalifornia’s 7 th grade mathematics test, which roughly corresponds to the students who arecategorized as below basic proficiency in 7 th grade mathematics, shared 8 th grade mathematicsclassrooms with students who scored in the top quartile of the 7 th grade test. Furthermore,although the changes are less pronounced, we also find evidence to suggest that mathematicsclass segregation based on 7 th grade ELA test scores also declined in the district over the studyperiod.[Insert Table 4 about here]Table 5 provides another look at the way curricular intensification changed thecomposition of 8 th grade mathematics classrooms in Towering Pines. The first panel in this tablereports changes in the mean classroom 7 th grade percentile scores by 8 th grade mathematicscourse (General <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Algebra, and Geometry) across the study period. Even as 7 th gradetest scores improved for Towering Pines students over the study period, the mean studentachievement level within 8 th grade mathematics class levels declined since the district’s